Democratic Erosion University Course Student Blog

Students enrolled in our course are encouraged to write for the course blog, and to read and comment on posts from students at other participating universities. The blog offers students the opportunity to analyze current events through the lens of the theory and case studies they engage with through the course.

These blogs reflect the views of the student authors, and not those of the Democratic Erosion Consortium.

TUNISIA’S AUTHORITARIAN TURN: How President Kais Saied Is Dismantling the Arab Spring’s Only Democracy

When Tunisia's citizens overthrew their dictator in 2011, the world hailed Tunisia's emergence from this uprising as the only country to become a true democracy. For several years, Tunisia served as solid evidence that democracy was a realistic outcome of the Arab...

How Trump and his federal forces are using America’s polarization problem to dismantle American democracy

America is suffering from intense affective polarization, and Trump is using this polarization and federal forces to diminish important avenues for horizontal accountability, vertical accountability, and resistance.

Indefinite Term Limits: How Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele is Further Entrenching His Power

Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele aims to entrench his executive power through the introduction of indefinite term limits.

Backsliding or Normalization? What is Driving the Changes to Chilean Voting Laws

Dec 5, 2025 | University of Georgia

In September of 2025, just months before the presidential election, two contentious reforms were passed to change voting laws in Chile to curb the voting capacity and the...

Democracy and the Press: Netanyahu’s Threat to Media Freedom

Dec 5, 2025 | University of Georgia

Israeli Government Structure Israel has a parliamentary democracy with a unicameral legislature, known as the Knesset, where citizens elect political parties rather than...

El Salvador’s Successful Stealth Authoritarianism

Nov 17, 2025 | University of Pittsburgh

Executive aggrandizement has been a persistent issue in El Salvador for years, dating back to President Bukele's election in 2019. With legislative approval, Bukele is on his way to eroding...

Judicial Reform in Mexico: Democratization or Democratic Erosion?

Nov 17, 2025 | University of Pittsburgh

On September 15th, 2024, former President López Obrador of Mexico signed into law a sweeping judicial reform drastically changing Mexico’s political landscape. The reform’s most prominent feature is...

A Marine’s Death Exposed How Procedure Replaced Accountability in South Korea’s Democracy

Nov 15, 2025 | University of Pittsburgh

In July 2023, South Korea was hit by severe monsoon rains. The Marine Corps was dispatched to Yecheon for rescue operations. Corporal Chae Su-geun, a 20-year-old marine, and his team were ordered to...

How the CAA and Religious Tensions Threaten India’s Democracy

Nov 14, 2025 | University of Pittsburgh

In 2019, India’s government passed the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which offers non-Muslim religious minorities from neighboring countries a fast-track pass to Indian citizenship. Prime...

Copy-and-Paste: Why Latin America is Using El Salvador as an Anti-Crime Template

Nov 14, 2025 | University of Georgia

Mano dura translates to “iron fist,” broadly defined as strong-armed, anti-crime policies that much of Latin America has implemented over recent decades in response to massive rises in gang...

Controlling the Narrative and Weakening Democracy in Hungary

Nov 13, 2025 | University of Pittsburgh

In 2023, the Hungarian government passed the Defense of National Sovereignty Act, a law that grants the newly established Sovereignty Protection Office the authority to investigate individuals or...

Authoritarian Populism in Disguise: Orbán’s Anti-Worker ‘Pro-Worker’ Regime

Nov 13, 2025 | University of Pittsburgh

Intro In the last two years, Hungary has seen an influx of worker-led protests, even as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán maintained tight control over politics and the media. From 2023 to...

Donald Trump’s NSPM-7 Follows Domestic and International Trends In Stealth Authoritarian Power Grabs

Nov 3, 2025 | University of Georgia

In late September, President Donald Trump followed his ad-hoc federal mobilizations of National Guard servicemembers and nationwide deployment of ICE officers with a directive to the FBI’s Joint...

How Bosnia’s Postwar Framework Made Dodik Inevitable

Nov 2, 2025 | University of Georgia

When Vladimir Putin met with Milorad Dodik at a diplomatic forum in Sochi on October 2, 2025, he greeted him as “President Dodik.” This moment drew attention because two weeks prior, after months of...